Casper Van Dien

Casper Van Dien was born and grew up in Milton, Florida, the son of Diane (née Morrow), a nursery school teacher, and Casper Robert Van Dien, Sr., a U.S. Navy Commander and fighter pilot. There is a long military tradition in Van Dien's family. Aside from his father, his grandfather was a Marine during World War II.

Moving to Los Angeles, Van Dien landed a number of small parts in various television series and movies. Two early breaks were recurring roles as Ty Moody on the daytime soap opera "One Life to Live" and the prime time drama "Beverly Hills, 90210." Keen to expand his acting talents, Van Dien took a bit part in the video game, Wing Commander IV.

Van Dien starred in the 1997 James Dean biopic "James Dean: Race with Destiny." Soon after, he got the breakthrough role of Johnny Rico in Paul Verhoeven's 1997 science fiction action film "Starship Troopers." This directly led to his being cast as Tarzan in "Tarzan and the Lost City." Van Dien next played Brom von Brunt in Tim Burton's 1999 film "Sleepy Hollow," a reworking of the classic Washington Irving tale.

In 2000 Van Dien appeared in "Cutaway" as well as Aaron Spelling's short-lived NBC prime time soap "Titans" with Yasmine Bleeth, John Barrowman, Perry King and Victoria Principal. He filmed several scenes as Patrick Bateman in 2002's "The Rules of Attraction," the character that Christian Bale had played in 2000's "American Psycho."

In 2008 Van Dien returned to the role of Rico in "Starship Troopers 3: Marauder," a direct-to-video sequel to "Starship Troopers."

Van Dien replaced Matt Mullins as Johnny Cage for the second season of the YouTube webseries "Mortal Kombat: Legacy."